ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT AT MINES: THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY’S PERFORMANCE DURING THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2017 TO 31 MARCH 2019

The report finds that the DMRE's capacity for environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement at mines remains 'woefully inadequate', with a severe shortage of qualified inspectors relative to the number of operating mines. Analysis of data from 2017 to 2019 reveals a decrease in inspections in six of nine provinces and significant discrepancies between the DMRE's annual reports and information provided via PAIA requests. The document highlights a lack of transparency, noting that the DMRE does not publish a comprehensive results report similar to the National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report (NECER). Criminal enforcement is described as inconsistent, with some provinces recording no activity and others showing a steep drop-off between arrests and successful prosecutions.

• The DMRE lacks sufficient personnel to monitor the 1,856 operating mines in South Africa, employing only 108 designated Environmental Mineral Resource Inspectors (EMRIs) as of 31 March 2019.
• In Mpumalanga, the capacity gap is particularly acute, with only 10 EMRIs designated to monitor 235 operational mines, meaning each inspector is responsible for approximately 23 mines, excluding unauthorised and derelict sites.
• Environmental inspections decreased in six of the nine provinces between the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years; for instance, inspections in Mpumalanga dropped from 167 to 115, leaving more than half of the licensed mines uninspected.
• There are inconsistencies in the DMRE's reporting of environmental compliance inspections: PAIA requests indicated 1,653 inspections in 2017/18 and 1,524 in 2018/19, which differs from the figures in the DMRE's own annual reports.
• Criminal enforcement is uneven across provinces, with the Free State and Northern Cape recording no criminal enforcement at all during the reporting period.
• The conversion rate from arrests to convictions is low; in Limpopo, 52 arrests led to 35 dockets, 20 cases handed to the NPA, and only 15 successful prosecutions.
• The DMRE received 9 applications under section 24G of NEMA to rectify unlawful commencement of listed activities, resulting in a total sum of R2,993,000, though only 4 fines had been issued by the time of the PAIA request.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT AT MINES: THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY’S PERFORMANCE DURING THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2017 TO 31 MARCH 2019. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DMRE-Environmental-CME-performance-FY2017-2019.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT AT MINES: THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY’S PERFORMANCE DURING THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2017 TO 31 MARCH 2019. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DMRE-Environmental-CME-performance-FY2017-2019.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT AT MINES: THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY’S PERFORMANCE DURING THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2017 TO 31 MARCH 2019 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DMRE-Environmental-CME-performance-FY2017-2019.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndenvironmental, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT AT MINES: THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY’S PERFORMANCE DURING THE FINANCIAL YEARS 2017 TO 31 MARCH 2019}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DMRE-Environmental-CME-performance-FY2017-2019.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }